TD Ameritrade Park

[BillEsq]

ah... i should not have teased butler so much.. i apologize to the dog fans.....

but i agree... its tough on the northern schools I just don't see baseball being a major BE sport outside of a few schools. but it makes it on TV and gets the various schools exposure so it makes sense to present a quality league even if it is not supre dominant.

[Jet915]

Baseball is a decent Non-rev, the problem with it is that it will always be a non rev because of the costs of travel associated with it for Northern teams. However since Baseball is played in the Spring the weakest of the college sports seasons it does give Fox inventory for TV and any competing schools exposure. I would rate baseball behind Lacrosse and Soccer in regards to best potential non revs for the league.




(however if you need another good team- with nice new facilities there are representatives at SLU waiting to handle your call)

And yikes Butler-- that is horrific... It looks like a small town softball field. (its a good thing you guys have those two recent final four(plus) basketball runs.

From what I recall, Butler athletics is not very good other than basketball.

[JohnT]

Big East basketball tourney in the mecca of college hoops at MSG. Big East baseball tournament in the home of the College World Series. Can't do much better than that right?

[Jet915]

Big East basketball tourney in the mecca of college hoops at MSG. Big East baseball tournament in the home of the College World Series. Can't do much better than that right?

Agreed, it would be asinine not to have basketball at MSG and baseball at TD Ameritrade.

[gmoser1210]

From what I recall, Butler athletics is not very good other than basketball.

Butler is good at basketball, but other sports have been pretty good throughout the years. They just haven't been as consistent.

Butler's men's soccer program has been pretty good. The 1998 squad enjoyed national rankings as high as #8 and the 2010 squad was ranked as high as #5. With being in a top conference, hopefully the Bulldogs will be able to keep a coach around. Also, the Butler Bowl is a pretty nice venue for soccer.

The cross country program is also quite good, having won 15 straight men's conference titles and 14 out of the last 17 women's conference titles including the A10's 2012 championship by a wide margin in both men's and women's competition. I think they placed 4th at the NCAA national competition a few years ago.

The men's tennis program has been strong. They won 9 out of 10 conference championships between 1998 and 2007. They've taken a step down over the past five years but are on an upswing. I'm anxious to see how they handle increased competition.

Women's golf was strong in the Horizon but I have no idea how they're doing this year since the A10 doesn't offer the sport.

Butler's swim program is abysmal, the track program is average (and the field portion is an afterthought), and the lacrosse program was very competitive but it was cut in 2007 along with the men's swim program (which was not competitive).

I understand there will be growing pains with the increased competition in every sport in the Big East, and Horizon championships don't mean much, but I wouldn't say basketball has been the only good sport.

[yorost]

Horizon championships are better than no Horizon championships. It's entirely possible that the Horizon is stronger than the Big East in some sports, a lot of schools seem to find a niche outside basketball.

[Jet915]

When I was thinking non-revenue sports, I usually think about men's baseball, soccer, lacrosse and women's volleyball, basketball and softball. Those sports have the potential to generate "some" revenue. Nice to see Butler is good at some non-basketball sports however.

[QueRico]

Before anyone gets too excited about where to play the baseball tournament, here's the latest RPI numbers.
This year the BE would be a one bid conference. Hopefully things will pick up w/ the excitement of the new league.

Seton Hall 45
Creighton 72
Xavier 94
St. Johns 144
Butler 151
Georgetown 178
Villanova 258

[yorost]

What does that have to do with being excited or not about where the tournament is played? Fans can't enjoy their sport unless its a top conference? If anything, wouldn't it be even more impressive to fans for a one bid conference to have a premiere location? I don't follow baseball, but I would think having a notable tournament facility helps recruiting and is something to be excited about.

[Jays26]

What does that have to do with being excited or not about where the tournament is played? Fans can't enjoy their sport unless its a top conference? If anything, wouldn't it be even more impressive to fans for a one bid conference to have a premiere location? I don't follow baseball, but I would think having a notable tournament facility helps recruiting and is something to be excited about.

+1